Craft’d owner opposes condemnation plan at public hearing: Riverhead Town Board May 21 meeting wrap-up

The co-owner of downtown Riverhead bar Craft’d decried the town’s plan to acquire the business’s leasehold interest through eminent domain during a public hearing last Wednesday. 

Sean Kenna, a partner in SNR Bar 25 Corp., the operating entity of Craft’d, urged board members to suspend the condemnation proceedings while he and his business partner, Robert Manolio, seek a new location for the bar. The town owns the building, which sits adjacent to the town square, and must terminate the lease to vacate the property for redevelopment in a public-private partnership.

Kenna said he leased the space for Craft’d in 2019 — prior to the town owning the building and deciding to undertake the town square project. He said that a space for lease at another downtown Riverhead property for Craft’d was a “ridiculous” cost.

“I understand where you guys are coming from. I’m all about the project, but me and Rob are going to lose in this scenario, because we don’t know what’s going to happen,” Kenna said. “We invested a lot of money downtown, between Cucina 25 and Craft’d. We were going to build another spot. No way. No way. Until this gets rectified. No way.”

Town Attorney Erik Howard said the Craft’d owners would be compensated for the balance of its lease at the property during the condemnation process in court. 

“Whatever investment you have, that’s going to be compensated,” Howard told Kenna. “Whatever contributing factors or intangible investments you’ve made in downtown, those are all arguments you’ll get to make in the context of that proceeding.”

Kenna’s plea to suspend the condemnation process fell on deaf ears, as the Town Board closed the hearing that night. According to Frank Isler, the town’s special counsel for the eminent domain action, the board has 90 days from the close of the hearing to decide whether to proceed with acquiring the lease.

If it chooses to go forward, the Town Board has to adopt a resolution “making a determination that the acquisition is in the public interest,” Isler said. The Town Board will vote to make that determination next week, according to draft resolutions sent by the town clerk’s office. The town must then petition the Supreme Court to terminate the lease agreement.

Riverhead Town owns the two-story building located at 127 East Main Street, where Craft’d is a ground-floor tenant. The business must vacate the premises before the property can be transferred to the town’s designated master developer, J. Petrocelli Development Associates. It will be demolished to make way for a multistory mixed-use boutique hotel. The project will “activate” the east side of the town square with retail and restaurant space and provide “needed hotel rooms for all of the East End,” said Dawn Thomas, the administrator overseeing the town’s revitalization efforts.

“These public and private projects are planned and designed as a heart transplant for East Main Street, which has long worked for meaningful revitalization,” Thomas added.

Town officials voiced support for Craft’d during the hearing and said they were committed to assisting with its relocation. 

“It’s an important part of our Main Street,” Thomas said of Craft’d. “For the past, probably, four years, we’ve looked at several different properties. There were a number of different properties considered, and some still being considered by the owners.”

Thomas said the town is pursuing a federal grant to help facilitate Craft’d’s relocation. 

“Hopefully we’ll have good news on this front within the next few weeks,” Thomas said.

Kenna, striking a conciliatory tone, praised the town square plan, but said he was “pushed out” of the project by the town. 

“Sean, you were offered space by Mr. Petrocelli to put your place in there. You turned that down,” Supervisor Tim Hubbard said. 

“I have not spoken to that man in two-and-a-half years,” Kenna said, claiming he was told by Petrocelli that there was already a restaurant planned at the space. Hubbard said Kenna was incorrect.

Joseph Petrocelli, the principal of J. Petrocelli Development Associates, did not return a text Wednesday requesting comment for this article.

John McAuliff of Riverhead also spoke at the hearing. He suggested the Town Board consider redesigning the town square project to reduce the size of the planned hotel building. 

“Whatever you do about the eminent domain, I think is not so much the issue as how you decide to use that space.” he said.

Former Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith of Laurel said the board should officially deem J. Petrocelli Development Associates “qualified and eligible” to develop the town square before condemning Craft’d’s lease.

“I just think this is being done out of sequence…,” she said. “ And you have your town planner saying this is where that hotel is going. But that’s a concept by this master developer who has not been deemed qualified and eligible yet.”

In 2022, the Town Board designated Petrocelli — also the developer of the Long Island Aquarium, Hyatt Place East End and Preston House — the town square’s master developer and authorized negotiations of a public-private partnership. A final project plan and agreement have yet to be released. No hearing has been scheduled, although Hubbard stated at a press conference last week that the qualified and eligible hearing  is expected to take place in July.

Also during the May 21 meeting, the Town Board: 

• Abandoned its eminent domain proceedings against the building owned by the Long Island Science Center at 111 East Main Street. The blighted building, located on the west side of the town square, will be developed under a two-phased plan unveiled by the science center last week.
• Recognized 10 graduating students for their participation in Riverhead Town’s Youth Court program. Those graduating from the program are: Kathyryn Grace Blangiardo; Gabrielle Boffy; Lorena Correa; Giovanna Costa; Maya Escobar; Diana Espana; Giselle Flores; Anna Marino; Samantha Murtha and Leigha Serio, according to the Town Board’s agenda.
• Authorized the town attorney to seek amendment of the New York State law that transferred the former New York State Armory on Route 58 to the town, so that the property can be sold or leased to YMCA of Long Island for use as a recreation center. The state’s deed of the site to the town explicitly conditions the transfer on the town improving and maintaining it for “use by police department, justice court, public safety and recreational programs developed and operated by the Town of Riverhead Police Department.” The property would be transferred back to the state if it is not used for those purposes, the deed says. 
• Granted preliminary approval to the site plan amendment of Island Water Park, the operator of Scott’s Pointe, for its already built go-kart track and pickleball courts. The resolution requires the operator to resolve issues with the state Department of Environmental Conservation before final site plan approval is issued by the board. The approval permits Scott’s Pointe to convert a room in its building from storage space to a catering/event space, after all necessary Building Department and Fire Marshal are met. See separate article here.
• Authorized an agreement with Todd O’Connell Architect to revise the design of a larger Riverhead Ambulance District building on Osborn Avenue. Prior plans for the new headquarters designed it as a two-story building. The town wants to add a third story, a full basement and an enlarged mezzanine to that design, according to the resolution.
• Authorized the highway superintendent to make purchases of up to $75,000 annually for equipment and tools without the need for prior Town Board approval this year and in 2026. 
• Set the terms and conditions of employment for Deputy Sewer District Superintendent Brian Cybulski. Cybulski. Will be paid an annual salary of $107,500 plus benefits. 
• Appointed Steven Ouzounian to the Riverhead Hispanic Development, Empowerment and Education Committee through the end of this year.
• Approved the special event application for the Church of the Harvest’s East End Church Unity Day on Sept. 13.
• Approved the special event application for Alive on 25 on July 18 and Aug. 1. 
• Approved additional event dates for the Race Track, Not Street drag racing series on the town-owned runway at the Calverton Enterprise Park. Council Member Denise Merrifield abstained from the resolutions associated with the events, but declined to say why. 
• Set a public hearing for June 3 at 2 p.m. on an amendment to the town’s cannabis zoning law. The amendment would allow cannabis business in the Business CR zoning district, which is located on certain parts of the Rote 25 and 25A corridors in Calverton and Wading River. Town officials said they unintentionally excluded that zoning district when drafting the cannabis law. Specific locations would remain subject to the code’s distance requirements from certain uses, including schools, churches and other cannabis businesses. 
• Authorized a retainer agreement with the law firm of Smith, Finkelstein, Lundberg, Isler and Yakaboski, LLP regarding the Riverhead Sewer District’s Class A Biosolids upgrade project.
• Authorized a license agreement with Antoine Maaiki to operate the concession stand at South Jamesport Beach through Sept. 1.
• Set a public hearing for July 1 at 2 p.m. on an amendment to the town’s building and housing code regarding demolition permits. It requires that demolition permits issued to remedy violations of the code or any state code be non-renewable, and requires work with those permits be commenced within 45 days of issuance and completed within six months.